SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs’ great nightmare: A knock-out injury to Tony Parker.

The All-NBA point guard is hopeful that’s not the case. Before gingerly walking out of the AT&T Center Tuesday night on an ailing right hamstring, Parker said he will undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning. Game 4 of the NBA Finals, which the Spurs lead 2-1 after their 113-77 Game 3 stomping of the Miami Heat, is on Thursday night.

“I felt something on my hamstring so I don’t know, I have no idea,” Parker said. “We will do an MRI. Hopefully it’s nothing big and it’s just a cramping or it got tight on me. I don’t know. It was a weird feeling.”

A Spurs team without its floor leader would enter Game 4 at a severe disadvantage, likely needing Game 3 co-hero Gary Neal (24 points that included 6-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc) to step into the starting lineup.

Parker had a playoff-low six points in Game 3 after scoring at least 13 in the previous 16 games, plus eight assists in under 28 minutes. He said the injury didn’t happen on a particular play and that it didn’t feel like anything he’s experienced previously. When asked if he was hurting, Parker said, “No.”

He left the game at the 5:07 mark of the third quarter. He went to the locker room briefly, returned to the bench and was back on the floor to start the fourth quarter, of which he played just 1:27 as the Spurs continued to pour it on.

“I just wanted to make sure the doctor said I was OK [after getting checked out],” Parker said. “And then I played two minutes in the fourth quarter and we were up big so Pop [coach Gregg Popovich] didn’t want to take a risk. We will see [Wednesday].”

Parker has been sensational throughout the postseason, averaging 21.3 ppg and 7.1 apg. His production has dipped in The Finals to 13.3 ppg and 6.3 ppg while complementary players Danny Green, in particular with a series-high 56 points (27 in Game 3 on 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point range), and Neal have heated up.

26 Comments

@nba lover
thats not right , i hate not the team Heat hate the ref for intentinal advance for LBJ wade and co, i want a fair play, the problem is that stern prefer the heats, f.e. where are the punishment fro the flopping from bosh, lbj and so on..why is there no punishment?this anti flopping rule was made because of the miami heat floppers and now nobody cares, and why?yes it would be an image problem for lbj the new horse for the game nba 2k13 or 14 i dont know, and now u must understand that there are many who noticed this , and result is they dont like it
also last game where many advanced calls and clearly misscalld( hit in duncans face for example), but when a team shot like this , this refs cant do anything to help the heatles.
All i want are fair games!!!!

everyone relax the Spurs will win with or without Tony Parker and if Neal starts in his place well thats just more fire power. personally I think both Neal and Green want to prove that Tuesday’s game was not a fluke. both will score at least 17 pts each in the next game because now their confidence is sky high. Manu Ginobili I also believe will rise to the occasion and score in the twenties. when Ginobili gets going he is a beast,just ask Charles Barkley.

I truly hate a hater.A team making it to the finals 3 years in a row says alot. 98 percent of ppl talking about the Spurs are not fans at all. Ya’ll just hate lebron which makes you hate the heat. It hasn’t been about basketball since he left Cavs.It’s all hate over a man who done everything right, helps charities and is a great role model. This isn’t about basketball ,it’s just hating on a man who works hard

Even if I’m sided with the Heat, I do hope that Parker will be alright. The series shouldn’t be decided with him being sidelined. But then again, Tony being out for the second half of Game 3 didn’t seem to matter. Not only did Miami lose; they did so humiliatingly.

Anyway it doesn’t look like a major injury, TP is not a big man but he has big will : no problem he will play the rest of the finals even if he his hampered by a small injury and will be up to the task

Comon TP-Parker & heal up-be ok. Either way w/ TP’s hamstring the rest of the Spurs have to keep playing hard & harder the next game w/ or w/o TP. They do need him but they can win w/ or w/o him. On another note:
Way 2go Spurs, i know it’s not over yet but great game that was won by the roll players w/ TD, TP, & Manu not playing well. Heck of a way to step up roll players-that’s how u play on both ends whether heat r playing well or not. Keep it up Spurs.
Now Go Take The Next Game!
Go Spurs!!!

I hope Green and Neal can even put up 60% of what they did while Duncan, Ginoboli and (if healthy) Parker get rolling. Leonard keeps doing what he’s doing to keep Lebron cold and they should walk away with game 4.